


The Amari Way

by Irony_Rocks



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-02
Updated: 2010-08-02
Packaged: 2017-10-10 21:55:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/104711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Irony_Rocks/pseuds/Irony_Rocks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stranded on an ice planet during their winter season, John, Elizabeth, & Evan join the Amari people.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Amari Way

**Author's Note:**

> Winner for the **Best Other Threesome SGA Story** at the 2007 SGFA.

\--X--

"Do you, Elizabeth Weir, speak for your triad?"

"I do."

"Do you hold to the obligations set before you and yours? Do you swear that your triad seeks to join for the benefit of our tribe? For the betterment of Amalthus?"

"We do."

"Do you, in the absence of all other prior allegiances, swear to uphold the oath of an Amari? To live as one and sacrifice for the good of many?"

"We do."

"Then the powers endowed in I, the Speaker of the Amari, do henceforth welcome your triad into our homes, our lives, and our tribe."

Elizabeth glanced to John, then Evan. "Once an Amari," she swore softly, "forever an Amari."

\--x-- 

The mattress was barely big enough for the three of them, though describing what they were laying on as a bed was being generous with the term. The durable fabric that formed the top layer chafed against her skin, but Elizabeth had long ago conditioned herself to the rough material.

After all, if she could get used to the idea of sleeping in the same bed as John Sheppard and Evan Lorne, then a little more adaptation wasn't out of order.

It was the intensity of the cold weather that kept her awake tonight. Even packed tightly between two warm bodies, Elizabeth could see the huff of her breath with every exhale into the air. She always thought Antarctica was the coldest she'd ever be, but here on Amalthus, the weather was even worse.

Her head fell back onto the pillow as she exhaled slowly. She thought of Atlantis instead, of the cool sea breeze and the balcony that looked out at the ocean. She remembered her office, with the clear glass walls and the millennia old tiles that her heels rapped against as she frequently paced back and forth in anticipation of SG teams. She remembered her warm bed. Her _private_ warm bed, and forced back a sigh of frustration from spilling out of her lips.

She missed Atlantis like a missing limb.

John shifted next to her, tangled limbs ghosting across her legs. As much as it was warm and nice to have such solid weight surrounding her, Elizabeth was exceedingly aware of how messy and complicated things were with sharing a bed with two men, even just for warmth. She was damn positive that this predicament hadn't been in her contract when she signed up for this expedition.

It had been months since they'd been marooned; she hadn't been able to keep count of the time because one godforsaken snow covered day blended into the next here. Their new hosts were a tribal people with their own highly developed culture. Threesomes, called triads here, were the norm among the Amari. After being thrown headlong onto this world, Elizabeth now straddled wide across the lines of propriety as a compromise to these people. She just prayed if they got home - _when,_ she corrected herself - that no one would ever find out about how much of a compromise.

She shifted a little, careful not to jostle Lorne as he lay curled on the other side of the bed. The movement still caused him to turn on his side, and Elizabeth spotted the expanse of Lorne's leg peeking out from under the covers. They needed another blanket, she realized. She tossed a look over her shoulder at John to see if he was really asleep or not. After a moment, she wiggled a little.

"John, let go," she whispered. "I need to get another blanket. John."

He mumbled something incoherent in response, still half asleep. The whining tone of his voice told her everything she needed to know.

She persisted, "John, move. Please?"

He grumbled a bit, but pulled his arm away from her. Elizabeth slithered out off the foot of the bed. It was a bit of a performance to move on the mattress without jostling either one of them, or kneeing somebody in an rather unfortunate place, but given that she'd had a lot of time to get used to these sleeping arrangements, experience had taught her a thing or two about maneuvering.

The air hit her skin like a splash of ice-cold water and Elizabeth shivered, quickly grabbed the dark robe that was draped across the back of a nearby chair, and slipped it on. John immediately folded himself into the warm spot she had left behind and Lorne had barely budged an inch during her entire maneuver.

Padding across their small room in bare feet, Elizabeth opened the closet door and retrieved the spare blanket. When she turned around, John had lifted his head and was peering at her with bleary eyes.

"Elizabeth, what are you doing?" he asked gruffly.

"Just retrieving an extra blanket. Lorne must be freezing."

"Mm' not," the man in question muttered, blinking up at her from his side of the bed. "I'm perfectly fine. Come back t'bed, 'lizabeth."

Once upon a time, he had called her ma'am. Most days, Elizabeth wasn't sure what she thought of the shift from professionalism to downright intimacy.

She unfolded the blanket as she drew nearer. "Stop mumbling, Major. It's not attractive on a grown man."

John muttered something under his breath, too soft for Elizabeth to hear, but Lorne quickly barked a short laugh in response.

Elizabeth arched an eyebrow. "What did you just say?"

"Nothing," John replied innocently, which Elizabeth knew only belied the truth. His eyes fluttered shut in exhaustion. "Just more unattractive mumbling."

She threw them both a dirty look, trusting neither of them as far as she could throw them. The chill of the atmosphere quickly chased her back into bed, crawling in between and resettling amidst them. The extra blanket was quickly spread over the three of them, and Elizabeth tried to settle in as comfortably as she could manage. It was all still a little too close quarters for her tastes.

She released a breath. "Goodnight Colonel; goodnight Major," Elizabeth muttered cheekily. "Sweet dreams."

When she closed her eyes and finally fell asleep, her dreams were filled with familiar bodies and familiar smells, the voices of two men whispering in her ear as they moved over her body. She dreamed that they made love, and when she awoke in the morning, she did her best to pretend otherwise.

Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn't.

\--x--

"You can't think this is a good idea," Elizabeth protested. "Tell me that you didn't agree to this."

Tightly huddled near the back wall of the Amari assembly room, Elizabeth stared at the pair with a growing level of alarm and anger. She already knew the answer before either one of them opened their mouths. The guilty expression on their faces told her everything.

They had already talked it over with each other – without her.

"It's the best chance we're going to get," John replied, scrubbing a hand across the back of his neck. "We thought--"

"You didn't think," Elizabeth cut in, scathingly. "If you did, you'd realize that this is a suicide mission, and not the type you two normally have the ability to walk away from. You will freeze to death out there. You can't fight your way out of that!"

"Elizabeth," Lorne urged, pointing out the window. "This is the best chance we have to get out of here before the next storm hits."

Elizabeth followed his gesture, eyes drawn to the view outside. Sheets of snow lay coating the ground as far as the eye could see, a blanket of white with almost nothing marring the horizon at all. Still, the storms that had raged for the last few weeks had finally dissipated. According the Amari, such a respite was rare. The bitter winter would not end for another two months and when that happened, their window of opportunity for reaching the Stargate was depressingly small.

It seemed that John and Evan had grown tired of waiting and had formulated a new plan. One that didn't include her.

"The weather's improved over the last few weeks," John stressed, bracing an arm against the stone wall beside her. "We use the lull it provides to get across the terrain to the Stargate and then use the C-4 to--"

"C-4?" Elizabeth exclaimed, eyes narrowing. "What for?"

"The ice," Lorne answered. "They say the Stargate is usually buried in ice because of the storms."

Elizabeth ran a hand through her hair, and glanced away. "C-4," she muttered faintly.

"You know it can take that hit," John said, half pleading. "We just need to melt the ice around it, and an explosion might be a little overdoing it, but at this point, we need to take the risks."

"I understand your impatience, John. I want to go home just as much as either one of you, but we can't grow reckless."

Elizabeth held her anger in check only because it was overshadowed by another, more overwhelming emotion - fear. She was painfully aware that John would disobey her if he felt it absolutely necessary. Out here, disbanded and cut off from the rest of the expedition and Atlantis, it wasn't like she could claim full rights to her leadership mantle. Besides, she hadn't acted in that capacity for months now, not since she'd started sleeping in the same bed as her two subordinates.

So many lines had been crossed over, Elizabeth could scarcely count them anymore.

"We have a fighting chance, Elizabeth," John continued firmly, pressing closer to emphasize his point. Elizabeth's back thudded against the hard wall, and she stared. "You know we can't let an opportunity like this pass us by."

"You call it an opportunity?" Elizabeth dug fingernails into her palm, trying to stay calm. "It's a disaster waiting to happen, John. You don't know how long this calm will last. "

"Maybe luck is on our side." Lorne tossed a look over his shoulders at the group of people behind them. "The Amari seem to be willing to give it a chance."

Elizabeth forced a breath out, turning away. The Amari had preached to her the virtues in a triad. They believed it would balance and temper even the most passionate of souls. It was often mused among the elders that Elizabeth must have been gifted with such a reasoned temperament because it was necessary to balance out the wild nature of her two "lovers."

Days like today, Elizabeth felt all the composure and reason in the world would do little to dissuade John and Evan. She turned back to John, the tense silence stretching several seconds. If John decided to do this, then she knew Evan would follow in his footsteps. The two thought alike in an alarming number of ways.

"The Amari are sending some of their men with us," John said at length, breaking the stalemate. "They need more supplies from their trade partners off-world. This isn't just about us, Elizabeth. They need our help."

Elizabeth let her gaze flitter to the other side of the room where a dozen elders of the Amari pretended not to notice the tension. These people had been nothing but generous to the three of them. Since the moment they'd been flung out of the Stargate after a DHD malfunctioned on an off-world mission, the three of them had landed in the midst of a raging snow storm. By the time they made it to the Amari people, Elizabeth had nearly been dead of hypothermia, and John and Lorne hadn't been in much better shape.

They had been welcomed with open arms, nursed back to health and sheltered by these people despite the drain on the limited resources of the community. The Amari had never asked for anything in return before this.

"Elizabeth," John coaxed. "You know this is the right thing to do."

She knew no such thing.

\--x--

The Amari women were making preparations for the journey by the time Elizabeth had left the assembly room behind. Nalia, a woman in her late sixties, called out to her before she had managed to escape to the privacy of her room. She was a short, stout woman, barely coming up to Elizabeth's shoulders, with warm brown eyes, a wrinkled face, and a quiet dignity about her. Elizabeth had liked her from the beginning, but right now, it took an immense amount of willpower not to turn a deaf ear to her hails.

"Elizabeth!"

She stopped, turning to greet the other woman. "Nalia."

"I wanted to have a moment with you," Nalia said. "I understand that your men have agreed to the journey."

Elizabeth tried to hide her flinch at the sound of "your men," but the other words caught her attention. The journey. Her stomach twisted into knots. She would be staying behind tomorrow. That had stung, but that part of the decision had been unanimous. She knew where her strengths and weaknesses lay, and as physically fit as she was, surmounting that terrain had almost killed her. She wasn't athletic enough for another journey to the Stargate, not if they planned on covering the distance as quickly as possible. All the rationalization in the world didn't help the sting abate.

As much as she was angry at John and Evan for making the decision to leave without her, the thought of losing either of them - or worse, both - managed to choke most of the indignation out of her. In it's wake, she just felt cold again, fearful of being left behind. One was the loneliest number, right?

"You risk much, my child," Nalia continued somberly, reaching out to touch her forearm. "We are most thankful. A gift for you tonight."

Elizabeth opened her palms, and Nalia deposited a small, clear glass canteen onto it. She stared at it for a second, noting the bluish liquid inside, and then glanced up at Nalia as recognition hit. This was a locally brewed drink, an aphrodisiac called Saniam. The scarcity made the brew valuable, but despite that, she had been offered the drink more than once. Elizabeth flushed red in the cheeks as she met Nalia's eyes and then quickly glanced away. Their ruse had worked well on the Amari. Elizabeth sometimes wondered if she'd fooled herself with it as well, but this was one of those times where she was suddenly thrown back into her old shoes and could scarcely believe the situation she had found herself in.

"Nalia," Elizabeth managed, as gracefully as she could as her face flushed red. "Thank you for the thought, but--"

"You will not refuse Saniam this time," Nalia interrupted. "I know you have reservations, it is a gift. Enjoy your last night with your men. You risk much and deserve it."

Elizabeth cleared her throat, mustering an embarrassed smile as she slipped the canteen inside the pockets of her oversized jacket. "You risk many of your own able-bodied men in this as well."

"Our men have grown up in this weather," Nalia countered. "Even then, not many of them are acclimated to the hardships of traveling in it. We have lost many to the harsh winters." Nalia nodded decisively, quickly changing topics. "A strong triad you make. They will come back to you. You just have to remember the virtues of patience."

"One of my strongest," Elizabeth replied faintly, and then nodded, making her excuses to leave.

As she started walking away, Elizabeth wondered if that was both her duty and curse in life, always watching while others took the risks and laid their lives on the line.

One would think she'd be used to it all by now.

\--x--

"Did she finally take the Saniam?"

Nalia nodded. "Yes. She mistakes it for an aphrodisiac, but it has yet to be seen whether she will drink it with her triad tonight."

"Only morning will tell," the other Amari elder replied gravely, scrubbing a hand over his wrinkled face. "Ancestors have mercy on us if we are wrong."

Nalia's eyes flashed with irritation. "The Ancestors should curse us for what we've done. We have no right to force this on them. We should have told them from the beginning--"

"If we would have told them," the Amari man countered harshly, "they would never have agreed to take the drink. No, it is best we do it secretly."

"We condemn them."

"Maybe. Maybe not." He paused briefly. "Are you sure all three of them will take it? The woman is not favorable towards only one?"

"As far as I know, no. All three should take it." Nalia's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why? What would happen if only two of them took it?"

The Amari man leaned back in his chair and sighed heavily, the guilt weighing on his shoulders. "I do not know. The Saniam hasn't been used in generations because its effects are so volatile. The stories from years ago…" he shook his head, a pained expression on his face. "Ancestors help us if by trying to save ourselves, we have sacrificed these three. But it is for the greater good."

Nalia nodded solemnly. "The Amari way."

\--x--

Later that afternoon, Elizabeth had separated from the others, and isolated herself in their bedroom. She sat along the cushioned bench near the window, knees drawn up against her chest as she stared vacantly out at the snow-covered horizon. It wasn't the same view her balcony on Atlantis offered, but Elizabeth still sought it out when she grew restless. In lieu of a balcony she could no longer stand upon, she had claimed this quiet corner of their room.

She tried not to dwell on the image of John and Evan out in the middle of all that snow, but the task was hopeless. It wasn't as if the two of them weren't trained for adverse terrain and weather conditions. Still, they didn't have the resources and supplies available to the United States military. Quite frankly, even if they did, she still wouldn't have liked the plan.

"Hey," Lorne greeted awkwardly, appearing in the doorway. Elizabeth glanced briefly at him, returned his greeting, and then looked back out the window. Lorne sighed. "We didn't just come to this decision on the spur of the moment, you know. It's got merit." She responded with a nod, keeping her pessimism in check, and he turned frustrated. "We wouldn't leave you behind for anything less, Elizabeth. You gotta know that."

"It sounds like you're feeling guilty," Elizabeth remarked with a raised eyebrow. "I don't want that. I just want you guys to stop and think every now and again. I don't like this plan because it's foolhardy."

Lorne paused, looking conflicted. It was slightly funny, but Lorne used to be the one that tried to stay unemotional about things. While John and Elizabeth had never been able to keep emotions out of their arguments, Lorne had found himself often caught in the middle. He was more tempered than John's reckless nature, but more daring than Elizabeth.

Yet lately, she'd come to see a side of him that she'd only seen hinted at before. He cared for her more than was necessary. On most days, the good ones, she pegged the unusual circumstances as what made him so protective, sometimes even gentle, around her. She ignored the way his eyes tracked her across the room, or how he always did his best to coax a smile from her when she was feeling too homesick.

They were subtle clues, but she knew that Lorne was attracted to her. The thing of it was, it was mutual. She did her best to push down the feelings, to ignore the signs, and how he openly flirted with her these days almost as much as John did. It was easier to pretend than to face the truth. That's what Elizabeth always told herself.

She looked away. "There are so many things that could go wrong," Elizabeth said, drawing her knees against her chest. "You get to the Stargate. Say you manage to melt the ice, or blow up the ice, or dig out the Stargate with your bare hands. However you manage to do it, say you do. You dial out, but our IDC codes must be null and void by now. So, you go to one of our established allies and use their provisionary IDC codes."

Lorne nodded. "That's the plan."

Elizabeth shook her head. "But that'll take you time. Ten days to reach the Stargate from here, another day to find allies and use their codes. That day alone will cost you. By then, the Stargate here will probably be back under an avalanche of show."

"Then we'll gate to Atlantis, get the Deadalus to come and get you."

"If the Deadalus is even docked at Atlantis right now. If Atlantis was even still standing."

She flinched against the last thought, but there it was, dark and ugly and possibly true. It had been months since she'd stepped foot in her city. So many things could have happened. So many things could have changed. The best case scenario was that Atlantis had survived perfectly fine without them, and they come home to find their shoes neatly filled.

She wondered who the new commander of Atlantis was going to be. Surely they must have filled the role now, and on more than just a temporary basis. Probably military. Certainly military. The IOA wouldn't make the same mistake twice of hiring a civilian political barracuda as the leader again. Which probably meant that they wouldn't make the mistake of hiring _her_ again.

"Hey," Lorne said, stepping closer. "Give your mind a break for once. You're giving me a headache here."

Elizabeth sighed, shaking her head. "I know. I know. I just can't stop. There are so many things-"

Lorne cut off her protests when he cupped her face, turned it upwards, and kissed her.

At first, Elizabeth froze against the unexpected move. The kiss itself was soft and probing, not at all demanding. Elizabeth still felt overwhelmed, the sensation increasing when Lorne stepped closer, leaning down over her. Her mind stalled and her heart raced. His hands threaded through her hair, and without even realizing it or giving the command, Elizabeth grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled him down closer.

The kiss went from timid to daring in a blink of an eye, his tongue sliding over hers and exploring her mouth. She didn't know how long they stayed locked like that, but when he finally pulled back, Elizabeth was breathless, shocked at his actions and her own responses to it.

"I've been wanting to do that for as long as I've known you," he admitted with a smirk, somewhat sheepishly, perching opposite of her on the cushioned bench. He stayed close enough that Elizabeth still smelled the faint musk of him. "Figured it was now or never."

"Oh," Elizabeth managed faintly.

He took in her state, and as much Elizabeth wanted to compose herself, find the right words in response, she was struck speechless. When he glanced away and scrubbed a hand across the back of his neck, Elizabeth was struck with how utterly young and vulnerable a man like him could look. She had figured - known - that he had harbored feelings for her, but she had been so busy trying to deny her own attractions that she never realized he might act on his.

"Well," he said eventually, covering the silence. "This is… say something, Elizabeth. Anything."

"I," Elizabeth began in a faint voice, "I wasn't expecting that."

Lorne was confident in his reply. "C'mon, Elizabeth. You're telling me you had no idea?"

Elizabeth flushed and glanced away. "Lorne, I… I honestly don't know what to say."

Pregnant silence fell, and as much Elizabeth tried to come up with something to say, something to do, her mind was paralyzed. Evan didn't fill the void, but waited for her to respond. Eventually, though, he looked away.

"Well," he said lightly, "at least I got you to stop thinking, so there's that."

Despite the levity of his words, she knew him well enough to see the cracks in his armor.

When he stood up to leave, Elizabeth reacted on blind panic, reaching out to catch his arm to prevent him from bolting. "Evan, wait," she pleaded, horrified at the thought of hurting him. "Don't let this--"

Lorne flinched, pulling free from her grasp. "No," he cut in. "I get it. There's no need for explanations." He paused briefly, and met her eyes before quickly glancing away out the window. The defeated wince of his eyes as he turned away made Elizabeth's throat constrict. "It's Sheppard, isn't it?"

Elizabeth sputtered. "What? No. I mean, God, I can't. With either one of you. As much as I want to--"

Lorne looked up. "You want to? With who?"

She hadn't meant to say that part out loud. "That's not the point."

"Actually, what you want is exactly the point."

Elizabeth straightened, turning abruptly defensive. "No, it's not. This isn't a matter of what I want, Major."

"Major?" Lorne blanched. "You haven't called me that in months."

"Yes, I have."

"Bedroom talk doesn't count," Lorne countered, sounding exasperated. "You say that as a joke. We aren't superior and subordinate anymore, Elizabeth. We haven't been for a while."

Elizabeth wrung her hands, trying to take a moment to regroup, but she couldn't do that with Evan staring at her. The crackling fireplace along the wall behind him made for a better focal point, and she looked away and stared at it before she finally found her voice.

"We can't do this, Evan."

"Because you don't want to?"

"No."

Lorne paused, quirking an eyebrow as he rose. "No, you don't want to or, no, not because you don't want to?"

"What?" Elizabeth turned back to face him. "What's the difference? We just can't."

"The difference is key," Lorne answered. "One implies you'd rather kiss Sheppard than me, and the other implies that you want to kiss me, but you've got other screwed up reasons for not doing it."

Elizabeth stared, caught in the semantics of that statement for a moment. The truth was, in the deepest, darkest parts of her head, she could admit to herself that it was something else entirely. How was she supposed to choose between the two men in her life? She knew John and Evan better than she knew the men in any of her previous relationships. That was what made this situation so unfathomably complex. She wasn't supposed to want one man from this expedition, much less two of them. She didn't have that right.

Lorne advanced a few steps, though, sensing her hesitation and pouncing on it before she could backtrack out of any implications it could have. "Which one is it, Elizabeth?"

She fended off his advances with raised hands, and Lorne thankfully stopped. "It doesn't matter what I want, or who I want. We can't do this."

"Why not?" The question hadn't been voiced by Lorne, but by another familiar voice. Elizabeth's eyes slid shut in a moment of mortification, before she turned to see John standing in the entranceway, a bag dangling loosely in his hand. Elizabeth felt guilt and mortification spike through her. God, how long had he been standing there? "Am I interrupting something?" John offered lightly, walking into the room and dropping his bag onto the bed.

"No--" Elizabeth answered in the same moment that Lorne responded with, "--Yes."

Lorne broke the awkward pause. "Sheppard," he greeted casually. "I think we're in the middle of a living cliché."

"I really hate clichés," John returned, just as flippantly. Then he turned back to her, and casually asked, as if talking about the weather, "So, are you going to answer his question or not?"

In the next moment, Elizabeth stared between them, noting the distinct lack of surprise between the two men. She was overcome with the knowledge, then, that they had entered more dangerous waters. "What question?"

"The part I'm interested in," John began, taking a few steps towards her, the levity of his words belied by the intensity of the dark tone he used, "is whether you want to kiss me or not?"

Behind him, Lorne did nothing but watch.

"Elizabeth," John coaxed, snapping her attention back to him. "Answer the question. Is there some other fucked up reason that's stopping you from kissing either one of us?"

"Actually, Sheppard, I used the words screwed up. Not fucked up."

"Semantics."

"Crass," Lorne argued.

Elizabeth forced her voice to stay even, her eyes narrowing at the byplay. "What's going on?" She tossed a look between them. "Is this some type of joke? Did you guys plan this?"

"Ironically enough," John replied, "no, we didn't plan this, but I'm thinking we should have."

Elizabeth stared. "You can't be serious."

"I'm tired of playing this game with you, Elizabeth," John answered. "It's gone on for a few too many years, don't you think?"

"What game?" Elizabeth muttered, face flushing. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Lorne grunted his objection.

John wasn't even focused on anything other than Elizabeth. When he reached out and brushed his thumb against her cheek, Elizabeth felt pinned by the soft touch, paralyzed by the look in his eyes. Her breath caught in her throat because he had so rarely looked at her like that, and only then in private moments where one or both of them had just recovered from a near-death experience. One of them usually looked away, overwhelmed by the emotions, and the spell would be broken.

She couldn't look away now, and neither was John. "How long have we known each other, Elizabeth? Years. It may not feel like a game to you, but it does to me. Decide, Elizabeth. Me? Him? Both? Neither?"

"Both?" Lorne repeated cheekily. "Is that an option, Sir?"

John paused, still staring at Elizabeth. The soft look in his eyes changed into something else entirely, a look she had never seen in him before, and then John turned towards Lorne. "Yeah," he said at length. "Any objections?"

For a moment afterwards, Lorne did nothing but stare at John and Elizabeth as he obviously tried to decipher whether John had been joking or not. Elizabeth couldn't find her voice, couldn't stall the sense of rising adrenaline through her body. She wanted to flee, to rush out the door as quickly as possible, but she was paralyzed, caught between shock and perverse curiosity. It was irrational and ridiculous, but she had spent months sharing a bed with these two men, and all the fantasies in the world she had ever conjured up suddenly seemed a little too tangible.

Lorne's eyes locked onto John's, and she sensed a message conveyed in the look that passed between them. Before she could decipher the charged exchange, though, Lorne's gaze returned to Elizabeth, latching on with a dark intensity as his voice grew firm.

"None whatsoever, Sheppard."

John nodded, turning back to Elizabeth. "None, here, either."

Elizabeth stared at one and then the other. "You can't be serious," she said again, faintly protesting.

John slowly edged closer, and she couldn't help the involuntary step back that she took. Her body hit the wall behind her, and then John was looming over her, a particularly male maneuver that left her flustered and defenseless with the distinct lack of personal space. The look in his eyes, though, was what rendered her speechless.

She leveled her hands against his chest and pushed him away. "No, John. Stop. Whatever you're going to say, whatever you're going to do, just stop." She pulled away from him. "You're right. This isn't some type of game."

Stepping around him, Elizabeth made a break for the door before the severity of the situation could have time to settle in. Lorne had been standing behind them near the back wall and she tried to steer clear of him, but her efforts proved futile when he caught her by the arm and in the next second, had her pinned back against his chest.

"We're not playing games," Lorne insisted, whispering into her ear.

Her breath hitched at the gruff voice, her eyes fluttering shut for a moment. The tangible possibility of having her fantasies fulfilled, even for just this moment, made her weak in the knees. When she opened her eyes again, John was standing before her, and Lorne was pressed flush against her body, and she couldn't escape the awareness of either one of them. Elizabeth had desired this for so long, even knowing she had no right to it. She had spent too many nights caught between two men that cared about her as much as she cared about them, that it had been impossible not to imagine this moment right here.

John cupped her face against his palm. "Tell me to stop and I will."

She just held his gaze, unflinching, trying to will that exact word to come forth. Even now, pinned between two stubborn, overprotective, and utterly exasperating men she knew she was still the one in control. Her mind played over every scenerio in the blink of an eye - pulling away, saying no, saying yes, choosing one over the other, kissing them both - every scenario she could imagine suddenly sprang to mind.

Unable to find her voice, she simply nodded once.

"Say it," John encouraged in a whisper, stepping closer until his lips were a hair's breath away from hers. "I want to hear you say it."

She couldn't focus on anything but John's lips, but managed to find her voice. "Don't stop. I don't want you to stop."

He captured her lips in a greedy kiss that sealed her downfall, and set their pace. The intensity of it was instantaneous, and the drugged effect it had on her, shot through her like fire. This wasn't like the embrace Pheobus had shared with Thalan. This wasn't like the kiss she had shared with Lorne either, because there was no hesitation to it. John wasn't gentle or coaxing, wasn't probing or shy. He knew exactly what to do, how to move, how to draw a reaction from her from the instant their lips met. A moan spilled between their lips and spurred John past any lingering inhibitions.

He edged closer, pushing her body harder against Lorne's, who in return was driven against the back wall nearby. Elizabeth felt the moment his body collided against the stone surface, and she felt the shock of Lorne's burgeoning hard-on pressed against the back of her thighs. He was getting turned on just watching them, holding her while John kissed her. John continued to dominate her attention with his demanding kiss, but Elizabeth shifted and pressed back, grinding her backside against Lorne's erection and was rewarded with the low rumble of his groan.

When John pulled back, Elizabeth was too breathless and lightheaded to immediately realize that Lorne was tugging off her jacket. It fell to the ground and was kicked to the side, the canteen of the aphrodisiac spilling out and clinking against the hard ground. The chilly air assaulted her before John's mouth closed over her exposed collarbone. She arched into his touch, back curving like a bow into John as her hands threaded through his hair at the base of his skull. She guided his attention to a sensitive spot along one side of her neck, and turned her head in the other direction.

Lorne ducked his head forward to seize her lips, and Elizabeth was pinned between the two assaulting sensations. Lorne's lips were fuller than John's, though this time they were not as gentle as his previous kiss. She felt him groan against her when her tongue darted out to slip inside his mouth and she twisted her body and angled her face. When she broke off the kiss once oxygen became an issue, her lips were already swollen and red.

"We need less clothing," John muttered darkly, nuzzling her neck with the scrape of his stubble. "The clothing definitely needs to go."

Elizabeth's breath shuddered out, and she did nothing but try to hang on as John seized the hilt of her belt buckle. Lorne's hands skimmed across her waist and under the hem of her tunic, splaying his fingers wide over her belly.

As John flicked open her pants and began pushing them down the swell of her hips, Lorne stopped him. "Wait."

John looked up at Lorne, and unable to see Lorne's face, Elizabeth felt a moment of blind mortification seize her. What if he pulled back? What if this wasn't what Lorne really wanted? The alarm coursed through her as quickly as the desire had, and just as she was about to pull away, Lorne's hands suddenly skimmed low and slipped under her unbuckled pants. She gasped as his hands immediately dipped under her panties and brushed against her clit, drawing a sharp reaction out of her from the very first graze of contact. She wasn't aware of the electric groan that pierced John's throat, wasn't aware of the smirk Lorne tossed him. The only thing Elizabeth registered was the feeling of heat and pressure pooling between her thighs.

Her legs buckled against the spike of sensation, but Lorne held her firmly in place. Her head dropped back onto Lorne's shoulder and her entire focus narrowed in on the feeling of Lorne's palm kneading against her groin in rhythmic strokes. When his fingers slipped past her folds and pushed into her, she let out in a faint whimper and her eyes fell shut.

Callused, strong fingers penetrated and crooked inside her, sending spots of colors dancing across her vision. She wasn't even aware of when John continued to strip her of her pants, tugging them down her legs. She wasn't aware of when John slipped her panties down from over Lorne's hand and along her thighs. Two of Lorne's fingers continued to push into her while his thumb circled over her clit, forcing Elizabeth into broken sobs.

She came with an orgasm that hit so hard, her knees gave way entirely and she slumped back heavily against Lorne. "Shh," he breathed softly into her ear, pulling away sticky fingers. "I've got you."

Releasing a deep, shuddering sigh, the chilly temperature of the room finally registered against her exposed legs. Lorne tugged her chin to the side for another bruising kiss, and she could still feel his erection pressing hard against her backside. With a teasing push of her hips, she pushed back against him until he broke off the kiss with a moan.

"Evil," Lorne remarked.

She pulled free from Lorne and took a step away from both men. She didn't look at either one of them as she walked, half naked, towards the bed. She paused, intensely aware of their eyes following her, and something dark coursed through. Something fierce and possessive. The intensity of it was nothing like she had ever felt before in her life, but Elizabeth seized hold of the feeling, clinging to it in this strange and dangerous new territory, drawing courage from the strength of it. If she was going to do this - and there was no turning back now - then she was going to go all the way.

With her back still to them, she pulled the edges of her burgandy tunic up and over her head. Her dark curls landed back against her bare shoulders, and as she turned and tossed the tunic onto the ground, she stood completely nude before them save for her bra. A quick snap undid the clasp and she shrugged her bra off her shoulders, letting it slide down her arms and fall to the ground.

Both men stared at her. Elizabeth felt a spike of satisfaction run through her at the blatant desire in their eyes. It had been years since Elizabeth had allowed herself to feel anything more than affection for someone, years since she'd allowed herself to desire someone, or to be desired by them. She always kept a façade in place, a mask to hide behind. Elizabeth, the academic. The politician. The leader. The friend.

It had been so long since she had felt like a lover.

"Your turn," Elizabeth said, forcing her voice even. "Clothes." She held back a smirk. "Off."

John raised an eyebrow, surprised. "I think she's giving us a direct order."

Lorne tossed him a grin, and started pulling his shirt over his head. "I always did like following her orders."

"Me, too," John remarked casually.

Lorne froze and stared at Shep. "Excuse me, Sheppard? What did you just say?"

"Well," John replied, having the grace to look a little sheepish. The effect was ruined when he pulled off his T-shirt, and Elizabeth's eyes were drawn to his toned abdomen. "In my defense, if she gave more of those orders naked, I'd probably follow more of 'em."

It was a little surreal that they could be so casual with each other under the circumstances. She was struggling to find her way, and the two of them were acting so goddamn normal. Still, the banter made her feel better, made this entire thing feel a little more familiar. It reminded her that she knew these men intimately even if they had never been intimate before.

Except John and Lorne continued to undress, and Elizabeth was standing stark naked in front of them, about to cross a line she had never intended to approach.

Wordlessly, she edged back onto the bed and crawled backwards onto the mattress. Watching the performance in front of her, Elizabeth catalogued the toned muscles and hard lines of their bodies. She'd seen them in various states of undress over the last few months, but this time it was different. She didn't have to hide her gaze; she didn't feel the need to repress a blush.

She realized as they stripped that she already knew their bodies, had already mapped the contours of their differing builds by sleeping in the same bed as them for so long. It was impossible not to be aware of that when lying in between them every night. She could close her eyes, and just by touch, she knew she could tell one from the other.

This wasn't a mistake, she told herself. She just hoped she'd remember that come morning.

"She's getting serious again," Lorne remarked in a dry voice, pulling her from her thoughts.

John kept his eyes trained on her as they approached the bed. "She always does." He turned to Lorne. "Hey, find the--"

"Got it."

Confused, Elizabeth opened her mouth to ask but whatever response she had was cut short when John crawled into bed. John settled in on top of her, looming over her as he braced his hands on the mattress either side of her and Elizabeth stared up at him.

"Hey," she greeted, unable to think of anything else.

John's expression turned soft instead of teasing. "Hey," he whispered back, then paused, looking concerned. "You know I won't hurt you, right? You know I'd never do that."

She nodded. She trusted John more than anybody. Then John leaned down to kiss her, slow and sensuous, unhurried in his exploration, and Elizabeth forced her mind to stop racing. Her hands ghosted across his chest and settled around his neck. She pulled him down for a deeper kiss, lazily enjoying the slow and dark taste of being the singular focus of his attention. Her legs wrapped around his waist, her heels dug into his backside, and she felt the press of his erection along her inner thigh. She pulled away from the kiss only when she noted Lorne's absence.

When she turned her head to the side, she saw Lorne picking up the bottle of aphrodisiac from the ground. Before she could say anything, though, John moved his mouth lower and latched onto the swell of her breast, taking the weight of it into his mouth and flicking his tongue over her hardened nipple. Elizabeth gasped, arching her body involuntarily, feeling his erection press harder against her thigh. John groaned against her skin and mumbled her name, half of it broken, and then trailed kisses back up along her body, to her face.

Elizabeth was ready for him, desperately craving him inside of her. She wanted him there, realizing now that it had always just been a matter of time before it came to this. They kissed and explored, and when John pulled back and Lorne handed him the Amari version of a condom, she barely had time to catch her breath until he finally got it on. Then John's hands urged her legs apart, and he was inside of her slick heat in one fluid push. Elizabeth gasped at the sensation, her head falling back onto the mattress. He pushed in and out of her with thrusts that had her crying out, more vocal than she'd ever let herself be before.

It wasn't until Lorne slithered in beside her on the bed, body horizontal next to her, that she forced herself to think. She reached for Lorne, one hand skimming over his beautiful, naked body as John pounded into her. Lorne leaned over and kissed her, took over her mouth completely and she didn't have much ability to formulate any plan, but just driven by the need to touch Lorne more, her hands skimmed down and quickly seized his erection.

Lorne broke off the kiss with a gasp, but then with the very first contact of her hands, he was hers for the manipulating. Her touch lacked finesse, but she knew exactly how to handle him, with strokes along his shaft, teasing him with her fingers, and then grabbing hold in a firm pump that forced his entire body to jerk. John continued to thrust in and out of her, and while she unconsciously timed her strokes with the rhythm John set, she was aware of nothing but the building orgasm that threatened to shatter any concentration she had.

The staccato sound of their breathing and the steady rhythm of their fucking rippled through her, tightening her body, and she was lost to the sensation of John's cock buried deep inside of her. The thrust of his hips as he worked in and out of her was enough to have her whimpering with need; she desperately craved more. She wrapped her legs around him more tightly, and moved against him harder in an effort to force him to increase his speed. One of his hands grabbed her hips and titled her pelvis to a different angle, and the shift in position almost shattered her control completely. Her handling of Lorne became desperate and erratic, not nearly as pleasurable as she could have made it for him, but she continued as best she could, eyes closed and lost to the overload of sensations in her own body.

"Fuck, Elizabeth," John muttered, breathing raggedly as he leaned down to kiss her. "Feel so good… so…"

He trailed off, and Elizabeth only hummed in response, unable to formulate thought. John looked over at her hand as she pumped Lorne's cock, and then suddenly John bucked into her hard. A moment later she felt his unexpected release fill her completely. The sensation pulled her over the edge, and she cried out as her body shuddered through its own release in response. She felt the orgasm pierce through her, and despite her best intentions, she stopped handling Lorne as her body spasmed. Lorne groaned in frustration, but she barely heard it over the bark of John's voice saying her name and force of her own as she cried out.

For a moment afterwards when John slumped over her and braced himself weakly on the bed, Elizabeth was aware of nothing else but the haze of post-coital satisfaction. Neither of them moved, and it wasn't until she felt the mattress shift that she realized that Lorne was moving beside her.

John pulled out of her and dropped heavily to the other side of the mattress, breathing hard and soaked with sweat. "Jesus," he muttered. "Didn't expect that."

Elizabeth turned her head to look at him. "What?"

He looked towards her, and then past her at Lorne, and there was a thick haze of lust in the way he regarded both of them. Her body tingled in response as the implications sank in. He'd gotten off on watching her handle Lorne, just as much as Lorne had been turned on when John had kissed her.

She was surprised when Lorne grunted on the other side of her in acknowledgment. "Tell me about it." It seemed she wasn't the only one overwhelmed by the unexpected today. "Oh," Lorne added, then cleared his throat, trying to even the gruffness of his voice. "It seems Elizabeth's been holding out on us."

She turned to him, one eyebrow raised questioningly. When he held up the canteen with the blue liquid in it, Elizabeth hazily remembered the aphrodisiac that Nalia had given her. She hadn't even thought of drinking it this entire time; her own desire had been enough. That didn't stop Lorne from tossing the canteen to John, who caught it deftly and raised an eyebrow.

"Elizabeth," John said, affecting a scandalized tone. "Is this what I think it is?"

"Take it, Sheppard," Lorne muttered. "You'll probably need it for the rest of the night."

John opened his mouth, but whatever response he had, Elizabeth never heard. Lorne hauled her body on top of his and pulled her down for a fierce kiss that had her toes curling. The erection against her sent a shot of desire through her that should have been impossible after already coming twice, but as she rubbed her lower body against him and kissed Lorne, her body ached and throbbed. She broke off the kiss, and wiped a trail of sweat away from her face, looking down at Lorne.

"It's going to be a long night," he remarked huskily. "I took a third of the bottle already."

Elizabeth turned in time to see John drinking from the canteen, swallowing the bluish liquid in large gulps before pulling it away and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. John held the canteen towards her, but Elizabeth simply stared at the offered drink for a second, and then impulsively, like the rest of the night, shook her head.

"No," she replied, and then turned back to kiss Lorne thoroughly again. When she pulled back, her body was growing tight again as she continued to grind her body against his. "I don't need it."

It wasn't purely lust that made her so eager tonight. As Lorne pushed inside of her and she rode on top of him, she knew her body's stamina was only partly due to the way she had craved both of them. A part of this need was driven by lust, but the bigger part of her desires was driven by something else entirely.

Elizabeth was still painfully aware that, come morning, their triad would diminish to only herself. That thought drove her through the rest of the night, eagerly clinging to Evan and John in her bed. As much as it was about the physical, Elizabeth knew that tonight had also solidified their emotional connection. She couldn't breathe, but didn't have to; couldn't stop, but didn't want to.

If this could be their last night together, she wanted to make the most of it.

\--x--

Fin. Sequel forthcoming. Eventually.


End file.
